w 





Joseph Gumey Cannon 

PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENT- 
ATIVES ON THE EIGHTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
OF HIS BIRTH <a ^ « MAY 6, 1916 



H. Doc. 1092, 64-1. 




House Document No. 1092 ... Sixly-Fourlh Congress, Fiist Sesiion 



Joseph Gurney Cannon 




PROCEEDINGS IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

on the EIGHTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

OF HIS BIRTH 

Saturday. May 6, 1916 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFRCE 

1916 



^ Cull 5 



.On motion of Mr. Mann, by unanimous consent, 

Ordered, That on Saturday, May 6, 1916, immediately after the reading 
of the Journal and the disposition of business upon the Speaker's table, 
Mr. Rodenberg be permitted to control one hour. 

(Order agreed to March 16, 1916.) 



In the House op Representatives, 

May 8, igi6. 
Ordered, That ten thousand copies of the proceedings in the House com- 
memorative of the anniversary of the birth of Hon. Joseph G. Cannon 
be printed, with his portrait, as a House document and distributed through 
the folding room for the use of the House. 

Clarence A. Cannon, 

Journal Clerk. 



D. Of D. 
JUN 15 1916 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D 7 

Address op Hon. William A. Rodenberg 11 

Address of Hon. Isaac R. Sherwood 17 

Address of Hon. Frederick H. Gillett 21 

Address op Hon. Claude Kitchin 29 

Address of Hon. Champ Clark 35 

Response of Hon. Joseph G. Cannon 45 



Prayer by the 

Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D. 

Chaplain of the House 



Prayer by the Chaplain 

IJT'E bless Thee, our Father in heaven, for every life that has 
W poured itself out for the betterment of mankind, whether in 
science, literature, art, statesmanship, or religious endeavor; for 
these are the human dynamos that move the wheels of progress 
toward the ideal civilization for which every true heart longs, 
and for the full appreciation accorded to such men in the hearts 
of their fellows. We thank Thee for the recognition of the long 
and faithfid service of one who stands to-day on the threshold of 
his eightieth birthday, who, for half of his life, has been a con- 
spicuous figure on the floor of this House; a leader wise in his coun- 
sels, a strong advocate of every ineastire for the betterment of popular 
government, known throughout the length and breadth of the land 
for his strong personality, independent thought and action, affec- 
tionately esteemed by all for faithful service to his country. May 
Heaven's richest blessing attend hitn and bring him at last to that 
immortal youth where a fuller service waits on the faithful. So may 
Thy blessing attend every Member and crown his efforts with suc- 
cessful service, and Thine be the praise forever. Amen. 



Address of 

Hon. William A. Rodenberg 

of Illinois 



41287°— 16 



HON. JOSEPH GURNEY CANNON 



Hon. Champ Clark, Speaker of the House 

UNDER a special order of the House made some time ago, 
the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Rodenberg] is to control 
one hour, and he is now recognized. [Applause.] 

Hon. William A. Rodenberg, of Illinois 

Mr. Speaker: If all sentiment were taken out of life, to live 
would not be worth while. Sentiment rules the world and con- 
trols the action of all mankind. Love of country, devotion to 
home and family, friendship for our fellow man, all are based 
on sentiment. It is one of the divine attributes of every true 
and manly heart; without it the world would be dreary and 
desolate, forever lost to love and laughter. It fills the soul 
with hope and joy and lifts the clouds of doubt and gloom. It 
is humanity's greatest boon, for it brings to all the cheer that 
makes life worth the living. It is in response to a sentiment 
that has its foundation in genuine affection that we meet to-day 
to do honor to the best-loved Member of this great legislative 
body. [Applause.] 

Mr. Speaker, many stirring and exciting scenes have been 
staged in this Hall. Here in days gone by many of the Nation's 
greatest men have engaged in intellectual combat and the 
world has been enriched by their wit and their wisdom. To-day 
there rise before us again the towering forms of Garfield and 
Blaine, of Randall and Cox, of McKinley and Reed, of Crisp 
and Carlisle, and, as memory reverts to some of the great his- 
toric scenes enacted here, and in which they played their parts 
so well, our blood tingles and throbs, and we thank God that 
it has been our good fortune to have had service in this House. 
[Applause.] 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

I am now concluding my seventh term as a Member of Con- 
gress, and during my service here I have often been profoundly 
impressed by the fact that nowhere is the doctrine of the 
"sur\dval of the fittest" better exemplified than in this Cham- 
ber. Here every man is measured at his real worth, and the 
measurement is always true and accurate. The House has no 
difficulty in separating the wheat from the chaff, and is as 
quick to applaud merit and industry as it is to condemn sham 
and pretense. The prestige of the man of intellectual integrity 
is as lasting as that of the demagogue is fleeting. 

Leadership in this House is never accidental. On the con- 
trary, it is always natural and entirely logical. Length of 
service may place a Member at the head of one of the great 
committees of the House, but the chairmanship of a committee, 
no matter how important, does not carry leadership with it. 
It requires something else to be a leader and a man of genuine 
influence. The real leaders in a legislative body such as this 
are the men who do not adjust their sails to catch every passing 
breeze, but who, when the storms of criticism beat and the 
waves of opposition roll, "stand foursquare to all the winds 

;at blow," let come what may. [Applause.] 
If there be one such man among us, if there be one man who 
has steadfastly pursued the path of public duty, and who, at 
all times and under all circumstances, in good and ill report, 
has had the superb courage to give expression to honest con- 
viction, that man is he whom we delight to honor to-day, the 
grand old hero of a thousand legislative battles, Joseph G. 
Cannon, of Illinois. [Prolonged applause.] 

For almost 40 years the calcium light of publicity has been 
turned full and fair upon him; and the stronger and the brighter 
the light, the more it has served to reveal to all the world those 
sterling qualities of head and heart that have given him an en- 
during place among the ablest and most courageous statesmen 
of his day and generation. He has made mistakes — of course 
he has. To err is human, and UnclE Joe has at all times been 
intensely human; but no man, living or dead, ever saw him lower 
his colors or hoist the white flag of surrender. No matter how 
fast or furious the contest, he was never known to ask for 



Joseph Gurney Cannon <S 80th Anniversary 

quarter, but, throwing his warlike shield before him, he bade 
defiance to the enemy, shouting : 

Lay on, Macduff, 
7\jid damn'd be him that first cries "Hold, enough!" 

(Applause.] 

Mr. Speaker, including the Continental Congresses, 7,865 men 
have served in the various Congresses of the United States, and 
of all this number our distinguished friend enjoys the unique 
distinction of having had the longest service in the House of 
Representatives. The record shows that in all the years of our 
national existence only three men have excelled him in length 
of legislative servdce. At the head of the list stands Justin 
Smith Morrill, of Vermont, whose service in House and Senate 
covers a period of 43 years 9 months and 24 days. Next comes 
William Boyd Allison, of Iowa, whose combined service in the 
two bodies totals 43 years and 5 months. The third on the list 
is William Pierce Frye, of Maine, who served in both Chambers 
for 40 years 5 months and 4 days. And then comes Josi^ph Gur- 
ney Cannon, of Illinois, who, upon the completion of his present 
term, will have been a Member of the House of Representatives 
for 40 years; and I know that I voice the sentiments of every 
man in this Hall when I express the hope that he will continue 
as a Member of this body until he has established a record for 
length of ser\ace that will never be equaled in all the future his- 
tory of the Republic. [Applause.] 

UNCiyE Joe, to-morrow will be the eightieth anniversary of 
your birth. Entertaining for you, as I do, the deep and abiding 
affection that a son feels for his father, I deem it an honor 
indeed to have been selected to extend to you on this happy 
occasion the felicitations and good wishes of the entire member- 
ship of this House. We wish you full measure of life's pleasure 
to the end of your days, and we unite in the fervent hope that 
it will be many, many years before the shades of night begin to 
fall; and when they do, we know their gloom will be mellowed 
and softened by the golden glow that radiates from the halo 
that crowns and glorifies the patriotic life of a great American. 
[Prolonged applause.] 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Sherwood] 
is recognized. [Applause.] 



13 



Address of 

Hon. Isaac R. Sherwood 

of Ohio 



IS 



Hon. Isaac R. Sherwood, of Ohio 

MR. SPEAKER: Forty-three years ago, when I was on earth 
for the first time [laughter], I drifted into this Congress, 
that being the first term of the distinguished American whose 
birthday we celebrate to-day. It has already been said, better 
and more eloquently than I am capable of saying it, that he is 
the most remarkable man this country has ever produced, count- 
ing his service in public life. He has had a public service of 47 
years — 40 years in Congress— and has been four times Speaker 
of the House of Representatives. I understand that Uncle 
Joe and the modest Member who is now addressing you are the 
only surviving Members of the Forty-third Congress now in pub- 
lic life, and it has appeared to me to be fitting to refer to some 
of the incidents of that Congress, because we were called upon 
to deal with great questions growing out of the Civil War, ques- 
tions that appealed to the hearts and the emotions of public 
men. Gen. Grant, the foremost man of all the world, was start- 
ing on his second term as President. I want to call your atten- 
tion to some of the developments in science and social ethics 
that have occurred since that time. I remember that the ap- 
propriation for the President in that Congress, for salary and 
for upkeep of the White House, was $42,000. President Grant 
had no bodyguard, no military aid. We Members were serving 
at $5,000 a year. We had to furnish our own quarters. We 
were not allowed any secretaries. The Speaker had no parlia- 
mentary expert. We had no Hinds' Precedents. The country 
had no automobiles. We had no wireless; we had no flying 
machine; we had no canned music. Edison, the wizard of the 
scientific world to-day, had not yet appeared. We had no elec- 
tric cars; we had no moving pictures; no typewriting machines. 
We had no preparedness talk on this floor [laughter]; we had no 
Calendar Wednesday [laughter]; we had no Army and Navy 
League. [Laughter.] 

We had no twilight tango. 

We are here to-day with a living and knock-down argument 
against the theory of Dr. Osier. [Applause and laughter.] It 



41287°— 16 3 



17 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

is a mistake to suppose that a man who has reached the age of 
80 years has reached the acme of his intellectual development. 
[Applause and laughter.] Pope Leo XIII and John Adams were 
in the full possession of their intellectual powers at 90. John 
Wesley was at the height of his eloquence and at his best at 88. 
Michael Angelo painted his greatest single picture that was ever 
painted since the world began at 80. He made the sky and 
sunshine glorious with his brush at 83. Gen. Von Moltke was 
still wearing the uniform at 88, and he commanded the victo- 
rious German Army that entered the gates of Paris at 70. 
George Bancroft was writing deathless history after 80. Thomas 
Jefferson, Herbert Spencer, Talleyrand, and Voltaire were giv- 
ing out great ideas at 80. Tennyson wrote his greatest poem, 
"Crossing the Bar," at 83. Gladstone made his greatest cam- 
paign at 80, and was the master of Great Britain at 83. Hum- 
boldt, the naturalist, scientist — the greatest that Germany ever 
produced — issued his immortal Kosmos at 90. 

I saw Joe Jefferson play Rip Van Winkle at his best at 75. 
Goethe wrote Faust, the greatest literary achievement in all 
literature — the masterpiece of literature — the last section — at 
80. The Irish actor, Macklin, was still on the stage at 99. 
Robert Browning was as subtle and mysterious as ever at 'j'j, 
and Victor Hugo was at his best from 75 to 80. 

We will concede that UnclE Joe; has passed the period of 
adolescence [laughter] and that he has reached the age of dis- 
cretion. You will all concede with me that the best effort of 
his life was undoubtedly his oration on Abraham Lincoln, which 
was delivered in this Congress. He has not reached the acme 
of his intellectual development ; that will come later. [Laughter 
and applause.] When he delivers his masterpiece in this Cham- 
ber or in a larger forum, I hope I may be present with ears erect 
to hear or eyes alert to read. [Laughter and continued ap- 
plause.] 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Cooper] 
will take the chair. [Applause.] 

Mr. Cooper of Wisconsin took the chair as Speaker pro 
tempore. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The Chair will recognize the gen- 
tleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Gillett]. [Applause.] 



iS 



Address of 

Hon. Frederick H. Gillett 

of Massachusetts 



19 



Hon. Frederick H. Gillett, of Massachusetts 

MR. SPEAKER: I am the only person in the House who 
ever served on the Appropriations Committee when Mr. 
Cannon was its chairman. To my mind that was the most glori- 
ous and useful part of his career. Perhaps my opinion is biased 
by the fact that as we grow older we are less impressionable, 
and that when I was younger I was more of a hero worshiper; 
but to me, even when he sat omnipotent in the Speaker's 
chair and tried to be dignified and judicial and nonpartisan, 
and to regulate this disorderly and sometimes turbulent assem- 
bly, he was not so imposing as when he was on the floor, sure 
to be in the center of any conflict, contributing in no small 
measure to the heat and violence and interest of the debate, 
ready always to "ride the tempest and direct the storm." 
[Applause.] 

To see him in his glory, you should have seen him as chair- 
man of Appropriations, in the thick of the fray, without manu- 
script or notes, but all ablaze with energy, now entertaining 
the House with his quaint conceits and now convincing them 
with his powerful and ingenious arguments. 

That, to my mind, was the sphere where his abilities shone 
to the best advantage. He is by nature a floor leader. He has 
the courage, the fearlessness, and that quickness of mind and 
of tongue accelerating under fire, which make a man effective 
on this floor. 

Those of you who have come here this session can have little 
appreciation, it seems to me, of what the American Congress 
has sometimes been and what it may be again. Everything 
this year has run so smoothly and amiably — there has been 
so little bitterness and belligerency — that it is difficult to realize 
the contests of the past. Our Speaker is so genial and so pop- 
ular with both sides [applause], the minority leader cooperates 
so heartily with his kindly spirit, and the issues which thus far 
have arisen have contained so little to excite passion that we 
seem to be sailing on an eternal summer sea. I hope it may 
always continue so serene. [Applause.] 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

But it was in a very different atmosphere that Mr. Cannon 
was trained. It was different when I first came here. I can 
remember when the air of this Chamber seemed surcharged 
with animosity, and there were occasions when it seemed as 
if the two sides of the House were so hostile and furious that 
they might at any moment rise against each other in forcible 
collision. 

And yet I suppose during my service it has been calm com- 
pared with what preceded it. I suppose in the Fifty-first Con- 
gress party heat reached its extreme. It needed then dauntless 
courage and unfaltering poise to be a successful leader. And 
it was in that Congress I have always understood that Mr. 
Cannon really won his indisputable right to be at the front. In 
that historic contest over the rules it was on him that Speaker 
Reed, the most powerful and formidable figure I have ever seen 
within these walls, leaned for his most reliable and effective 
support. 

I came here 23 years ago. I suppose many of you think, as I 
know some ambitious men in my district have long thought, 
that 12 terms are an unconscionable time for anyone to serve. 
[Laughter.] But when I arrived here Mr. Cannon could look 
back nearly as far as that to the commencement of his service. 
He was in his prime. In debate his directness, his shrewdness, 
his brightness of illustration, and his gymnastics always at- 
tracted universal attention. I remember being told that once 
when he was making a speech with his customary vigor, rising 
on his toes and prancing up and down the aisle, Mr. Reed called 
out to him, sotto voce, "JOK, are you making this speech on 
mileage?" [Laughter.] 

But while his peculiarities of manner attracted attention, 
they were but the publicity agents for the real power and 
originality of his arguments. No one knew better than he how 
to appeal to both the judgment and the prejudices of the House. 
His quick and fertile mind not only grasped and developed all 
the intrinsic force of the argument but also took advantage of 
the foibles and self-interest of his audience. He did not simply 
argue the merits of the proposition but he fought strenuously 
to make his side prevail. He made speeches, not to circulate 



Joseph Gurney Cannon ^ 80th Anniversary 

in his district or to win applause, but to win votes, and if he 
could not succeed the cause was hopeless. 

The chairman of the Appropriations Committee generally has 
the unpopular side, for he is generally fighting for economy. 
I do not believe it is simply the natural prejudice of my own 
membership which makes me feel that a spirit of economy 
always permeates that committee far more than any other com- 
mittee of the House. Now is not the time to discuss the reason 
for it, which would be interesting. 

But ever since I have been here the chairman of that com- 
mittee has been the watch dog of the Treasury and the champion 
of retrenchment. Mr. Cannon filled that role preeminently, 
but with a good nature, a i^ractical common sense, a sagacious 
judgment of the temper of the House, and a prudent mitigation 
of abstract justice by personal necessities which won him ex- 
traordinary success. He was ready to compromise when he 
thought it wise and reasonable, but he never shunned a fight, 
and he never surrendered till every resource was exhausted. 
The adversary who anticipated an easy victory just because he 
had the popular side had little appreciation of the persistence, 
the knowledge, and the resourcefulness of Mr. Cannon. He 
was, of course, sometimes beaten, but he often won where 
another would not have dared to fight. 

When I first came to Congress I had a strong prejudice 
against him. But, as I watched his leadership, the time came 
when if I suddenly had to vote on a question of which I knew 
nothing, there was no man in the House whom I would follow 
so confidently as him. 

In committee he was alert, wise, timesaving, and he had that 
charming quality so appreciated by ambitious younger men, of 
giving them plenty of opportunity to show their powers. He 
never tried to monopolize the chances of distinction, but shared 
them generously with his lieutenants. 

I trust he will not think it disparaging if I say that he is a 
debater rather than an orator. You will recall that in the 
golden days of English eloquence Edmund Burke, who, in my 
opinion, wrote the finest orations ever produced, said of his 



23 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

rival, Charles James Fox, that he was "the most brilliant and 
accomplished debater the world ever saw." 

Some of Fox's friends took umbrage at the phrase, and 
thought the word "debater" did not do him justice. But I am 
not sure it is not quite as complimentary as "orator." A de- 
bater like Mr. Cannon measures his strength squarely with 
his opponent, asks no time for preparation, but is always ready, 
and must rely on his native powers to repel assaults, grapple 
with his antagonist, and from a hand-to-hand contest win his 
laurels. The orator at leisure ponders and develops and elabo- 
rates his material. In the one case you see the engine at work 
and can measure its actual force; in the other you see only the 
result. 

It always seemed to me Mr. Cannon had not the tast&, if he 
had the capacity, for elaborate preparation. He seemed to need 
the stimulus of a fight to arouse his faculties. Then he could 
summon his resources with unfailing facility, and showed a 
readiness, an astuteness, a variety, and a vigor which were 
marvelous. 

Of course he was prepared, in the sense that he knew all 
about his subject, for he was a most thorough and thoughtful 
student of the questions which came before him. But he never 
seemed to make any special preparation for his speeches, but 
to trust to the inspiration of the moment, which has brought the 
downfall of so many would-be orators, but which never failed 
him. Indeed, I think his example was a bad influence on 
young men by discouraging preparation. I, like other New 
England boys, was brought up to believe that the price of suc- 
cess was industry. I always had dinned into my ears the 
verse — 

The heights which great men reached and kept, 

Were not attained by sudden flight ; 
But they, while their companions slept, 
Were toiling upward in the night. 

Since I have known him Mr. Cannon's "toihng in the night" 
has not been exclusively over his congressional duties [laughter], 
and yet his mind always seems saturated with knowledge of the 
varied subjects which come before us. 



24 



Joseph Gurney Cannon "S 80th Anniversary 

As he moves among us now, kindly, sedate, respected, be- 
loved — a sort of perpetual statesman emeritus, bearing his 80 
years more lightly than anyone I ever saw — he is an honor and 
a blessing to the American Congress; but I shall always cherish 
most the memory of the dauntless, resourceful, militant head 
of the Appropriations Committee, defending the National Treas- 
ury against all comers, fearlessly, tenaciously, judiciously, and 
with a success I have never seen paralleled. [Applause.] 

The SpEakkr pro tempore. The gentleman from North 
Carolina [Mr. Kitchin] is recognized. [Applause, 



41287°— 16 — 4 25 



Address of 

Hon. Claude Kitchin 

of North Carolina 



27 



Hon. Claude Kitchin, of North Carolina 

MR. SPEAKER : I count it a real privilege and pleasure to 
participate in these ceremonies to-day. I believe the 
House honors itself more than it honors the distinguished 
gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Cannon] in taking, amid its busy 
labors, this hour to celebrate the eightieth birthday of a man 
who, in my judgment, is the most marked and unique character 
that has sat. in either end of the Nation's Capitol for the last 
half century. [Applause.] I am going to say in public here 
now what I have a hundred times said in private, that of all 
the public men whom I have ever met the gentleman from 
Illinois is the most remarkable and possesses the strongest, 
most practical common-sense intellect. 

I remember when I first came here, 15 years ago, he impressed 
me more particularly as being a big man than any other man 
in the House. I sat here in my seat for three years without 
ever opening my mouth on the floor of this House, and that 
is somewhat remarkable, it seems to me now [laughter], but I 
had an idea that it was wiser for me at first to hear and see 
rather than be heard and seen. During that time I was an 
intent observer, sizing up the men in this body. Outside of 
partisan politics the gentleman from Illinois impressed me as 
being the wisest legislator in the House. I have said that, too, 
a hundred times, and I have really not seen much since then to 
change my opinion. [Laughter and applause.] But when it 
came down to partisan questions and partisan politics, and 
especially when his blood was up — Good Lord, deliver us, 
[Laughter.] And, Mr. Speaker, his partisanship was not con- 
fined to men on the Democratic side of the House, either. One 
of the most interesting and remarkable debates I ever witnessed 
in this House was between the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. 
Cannon] and a gentleman on that side of the Chamber who is 
now deceased. Col. Pete Hepburn, which occurred some 12 or 
13 years ago, when the bill for the construction of the inter- 
oceanic canal was under consideration. The question then was 
whether we should build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama 



29 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

or along what was known as the Nicaraguan route. The com- 
mittee had reported unanimously in favor of the Nicaraguan 
route. Mr. Hepburn was chairman of the committee, and, of 
course, strongly advocated the Nicaraguan route. Only a few, 
led by the gentleman from Illinois, favored the Panama route. 
I had seen many heated courthouse contests between lawyers, 
but I never witnessed anything more interesting and exciting 
than that debate between these two gentlemen. Mr. Hepburn 
was right-handed and Mr. Cannon was left-handed, both on 
their feet most of the time, within a step or two of each other, 
their arms waving about as if in a pugilistic contest. It was 
a fur-flying debate, but a great debate. I will never forget it. 
Two giants were wrestling with each other in intellectual 
combat. The House has had few men equal as a debater to 
Col. Hepburn. He was a strong, forceful, resourceful man. 

Mr. Speaker, I have heard Mr. Cannon in several debates; 
I have seen him in action in the House for a number of years; 
I have seen him confront serious and critical situations often; 
but, in my opinion, the time when he loomed up bigger and 
stronger and braver than ever was during those two nights and 
two days' fight over what we called Cannonism — on the Norris 
resolution — in the Sixty-first Congress. I never saw a man in 
my life who stood forth such a complete master of the situation. 
He rode the very whirlwinds and directed the storms for his 
party. While many harsh things on this side and many on 
that side were spoken during those two days and nights of the 
hottest and most exciting contest the House has witnessed in a 
quarter of a century, I never saw the gentleman from Illinois 
lose his temper or his head for one moment. He was courteous, 
cool, courageous, and determined to the last to do what he 
started out to do the very first moment the fight began. He 
was going to hold the House here and not make a decision upon 
the question of order pending until the Republican whip had 
gathered in from all quarters of the United States every single 
Republican Member of this House, and he knew exactly how 
each would vote. Just as soon as he ascertained that every 
Republican who would vote on his side was here in the House, 
without sleep for two days and nights, he rapped the House 



30 



Joseph Gurney Cannon "^ 80th Anniversary 

to order and calmly said, "The Chair is ready to rule." [Ap- 
plause.] And he ruled against us, of course. [Laughter and 
applause.] In all the conflicts in his long and eventful career 
as a Member of the House, some of them bitter and severe, he 
stood out always before the eyes of friend and foe the embodi- 
ment of courage, of directness, of integrity. [Applause.] 

Mr. Speaker, I think this occasion illustrates the truth of 
what I heard the minority leader say some time ago, that while 
that aisle separated the Democrats from the Republicans it 
did not divide the hearts of the men in this House. [Applause.] 
It does not divide our respect, confidence, esteem, and affection 
for each other. There are men on that side of the House whom 
I regard with as much esteem, admiration, respect, and af- 
fection as on this side, and no doubt that is the case with 
most of us on either side of the aisle. We differ on questions 
of policy for the country, on what we call political principles, 
but we do not differ in our loyalty and love and devotion to 
our country and our flag, and in our respect, esteem, and affec- 
tion for one another. When I was a great deal younger than 
I am now, I used to think that the good folks were all in the 
Democratic Party and the bad folks all in the Republican Party. 
I used to think that the big Republicans in Washington had 
horns and that they were all reaching out with both hands 
toward somebody else's pocket. But, gentlemen, since I have 
served in this House I have found so many good and splendid 
fellows in the Republican Party that, individually, I am willing 
to admit that it is a pretty good party. Collectively — well, I 
am not profane and will not be unparliamentary; but, anyway, 
since my association with these splendid Republicans here I 
have come to the conclusion that a Republican is never danger- 
ous to a good Democrat — except in an election [laughter and 
applause], and never harmful to the public — except in office. 
[Laughter.] 

In the Sixty-first Congress we had a lot of talk about "Can- 
nonism." I believe the best speech I ever made in the House 
was on "Cannonism." That was not a fight against Mr. Can- 
non; it was a fight against a system which the rules created | 
and which he inherited from former Congresses, and, perhaps, j 



31 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

from Democratic Congresses, too, as well as Republican Con- 
gresses. I said at the time that we were making a fight against 
the rules and the power which the rules gave the Speaker, 
called then "Cannonism," not against Mr. Cannon; that the 
rules then in force had been in force in both Republican and 
Democratic Congresses, and only a weak man, without courage, 
would have done less than the distinguished gentleman from 
Illinois if exigencies demanded. When the rules of the House 
put into the hands of one man the life and death of all legisla- 
tion and all procedure and made him more powerful than even 
the President of the United States, any strong, intellectual, 
courageous man would have exercised that power, whether he 
was a Democrat or a Republican, under the conditions that then 
confronted the party in control. Since then, as the gentleman 
from Massachusetts [Mr. Gillett] says, we have come to smooth 
and better-tempered times, when most of us vote alike and 
think alike on many questions. When the people made a change 
in the House, why, we, with the approval of many gentlemen 
on that side, changed the rules, and we never hear of "Can- 
nonism" now, but we are proud and glad to hear to-day of 
"Cannon." [Applause.] We are glad to know, too, that every 
heart that beats within these walls is hoping and praying that 
we shall have the happiness on many and many another birth- 
day of the gentleman from Illinois to meet here in his presence 
and do him honor. [Loud applause.] 

The Speaker pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the Speaker 
of the House of Representatives. [Loud applause.] 



32 



Address of 

Hon. Champ Clark 

Speaker of the House 



33 



Hon. Champ Clark, of Missouri, Speaker of the House 

IV /I R. SPEAKER AND Gentlemen of the House: This per- 
•^ '•*• formance here to-day reminds me of one in which Mr, 
Speaker Cannon and myself participated five or six years ago 
in the city of New York. About six months after Mark Twain 
died they memoriahzed him in Carnegie Hall before an im- 
mense audience. The chairman was Dr. William Dean Howells. 
The speakers were Joseph H. Choate, Henry Van Dyke, 
"Marse" Henry Watterson, Mr. Speaker Cannon, George W. 
Cable, and myself. I believe if Mark Twain knew what was 
happening that that was exactly the kind of a crowd he would 
have elected to have participated in his funeral exercises. We 
did not do anything for four mortal hours except crack jokes 
and tell anecdotes. I think this hour and a half is well spent. 
[Applause.] It shows the House in its most pleasing phase. 

Mr. Speaker, this Government has existed 127 years under 
the Constitution — a brief, fleeting period in the existence of a 
nation, but longer than the span of life vouchsafed to any of 
the latter-day sons of Adam. We are engaged in celebrating 
the birthday of the only man in our history who has been 
elected to the House of Representatives 20 times — a unique 
achievement, which may be duplicated in the next 127 years, 
but probably will not. Such a record can be made only under a 
rare and peculiar set of circumstances : First. The constituency 
must remain in the same political faith during two score years. 
Second. The man himself must be as constant as the northern 
star and be possessed of unusual endovv^ments, mentally and 
physically. Third. His constituency must have such faith in 
him as would remove mountains. 

Mr. Speaker Cannon is now well into his fortieth year in the 
House, and is in fine fettle in both body and mind — at which we 
all rejoice. [Loud applause.] 

Only three men have exceeded him in length of service in 
Congress, and they only by adding their House and Senate 
service together. Justin Smith Morrill, of Vermont, sat 12 ^' 

35 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

years in the House and 31 years, 9 months, and 24 days in the 
Senate — a total of 43 years, 9 months, and 24 days — -while 
William Boyd Allison, of Iowa, served 8 years in the House and 
35 years and 5 months in the Senate — a total of 43 years and 
5 months, and William P. Frye, of Maine, who served 10 years 
and 13 days in the House and 30 years, 4 months, and 20 days 
in the Senate — a total of 40 years, 5 months, and 3 days. Thus 
it will be seen that Morrill tops them all by 4 months and 24 
days. 

William Ewart Gladstone served 53 years in the British 
House of Commons. I am by no means certain that his service 
was the longest in that body. Over there, however, they begin 
younger than we do. Charles James Fox, perhaps the greatest 
parliamentary orator that ever lived, entered the House of 
Commons at 19, and the younger William Pitt at about the 
same age. Another thing that tended for length of service 
there was the old and condemned borough system, whereby a 
duke or earl or viscount would take a fancy to some bright 
youngster and practically appoint him to a seat in the Com- 
mons — an agreeable custom, but not promotive of the public 
welfare, and now happily fallen into "innocuous desuetude." 

Henry Clay, the most renowned of all Speakers, served the 
longest time in the Speaker's chair, being elected for six full 
terms, resigning twice, with a total actual service of 10 years 
and 245 days, although the Capitol guides will have it that he 
served 12 years — a historic fable. 

Mr. Speaker Cannon comes next with four full terms — eight 
years — and if the political complexion of the House had not 
changed he would in all probability be in his fourteenth year in 
the chair, thereby exceeding the record of "The Great Ken- 
tuckian." [Applause.] 

Mr. Speaker Stevenson of Virginia was elected for four full 
terms, but in the middle of his fourth term he resigned both 
as Speaker and as Member of the House, having been nominated 
as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the 
Court of St. James by President Jackson; but alack! and also 
alas ! a refractory Senate refused to confirm his nomination for 
more than a year, during which time he was, like Mohammed's 



36 



Joseph Gurney Cannon ^ 80th Anniversary 

coffin, suspended betwixt heaven and earth. At last the Jack- 
son men became strong enough in the Senate to confirm him 
and he went on his way rejoicing, having learned a lesson about 
premature resignations which he probably never forgot and 
which added somewhat to his stock of wisdom. 

Mr. Speaker Cannon and Gen. Sherwood were both first 
elected to Congress at the November election in 1872, when 
under the lead of Horace Greeley the Democrats met with a 
crushing disaster, from which they recovered in 1874, only two 
years later, and swept the country from sea to sea. Speaker 
Cannon has served under 10 Presidents — Grant, Hayes, Gar- 
field, Arthur, Cleveland, the younger Harrison, McKinley, Roose- 
velt, Taft, and Wilson. Presidents come and Presidents go, but 
he, like Tennyson's brook, goes on forever. 

James Gillespie Blaine, one of the most brilliant of all the 
Speakers [applause], administered the oath to him upon his 
entrance here. While the Speaker's term is two years and the 
presidential term is four, he has seen the same number of Presi- 
dents in the White House and Speakers in the chair, 10 — Blaine, 
Kerr, Randall, Kiefer, Carlisle, Reed, Crisp, Henderson, Cannon, 
and Clark. 

When he was first elected only about a dozen of the present 
Members could vote. Many were in their swaddling clothes, 
trying to achieve the first acrobatic feat any of us and all of 
us ever essayed — to get our big toe into our mouth. [Laughter.] 
A majority of the Members were then unborn. What an as- 
tounding amount of history has been made in this country in 
the 44 intervening years, all of which he saw and part of which 
he was ! 

I am glad that Mr. Speaker Cannon made his great speech 
on the immigration bill recently — for it was a great speech — glad 
on his account, glad on my own account ; glad most especially 
on account of you newer Members who have come into the House 
in the last 13 years; glad that you had the opportunity of not 
only hearing but seeing him as James Steerforth wished to be re- 
membered, "at his best." We are all James Steerforths in that 
regard. J. B. McCullough, long-time editor of the St. Louis 
Globe-Democrat, once said that he had often thought that had 



37 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

there been present a man who could see but could not hear and 
one who could hear but could not see when Roscoe Conkling 
delivered his superb speech, nominating Gen. Grant in the 
famous Chicago convention of 1880, he believed that the deaf 
man who could see would have derived as much pleasure from 
Conkling's performance as the blind man who could hear. I 
confess that seeing Mr. Speaker Cannon in action has always 
interested me quite as much as what he said. [Laughter and 
applause.] He has always appeared to me to be made up chiefly 
of spiral springs. [Laughter.] I saw him once do, while speak- 
ing, a thing that I doubt if any other speaker ever duplicated 
since the confusion of tongues at Babel. In the heat of debate 
I saw him make a complete circle on his heel. [Laughter.] 

He is one of the strongest rough-and-tumble debaters I ever 
heard or tackled. He belongs to the topnotcher class of mental 
pugilists. He hits and hits hard, but never below the belt. I 
remember with pleasure now — though not so pleasant then — 
that in the first real debate in which I ever participated in the 
House he catechized me in extenso. It was a red-hot political 
debate — a cut and thrust affair — on the repeal of the Federal 
election law. I had not been here more than two months, and 
was ambitious to break into the limelight, or, as the Kaiser would 
say, to achieve "a place in the sun." [Laughter.] I did it on 
that occasion, largely by aid of Mr. Speaker Cannon, though I 
entertain serious doubt whether he intended assisting a rampant, 
greenhorn Democratic Congressman, for the billows of politics 
ran mountain high at that time. 

Fight in those brave days of old ? Of course we did — many of 
us, tooth and nail, hammer and tongs. Scars? All who par- 
ticipated in those fierce conflicts bear them — honorable scars, all 
in front ; none of us escaped unscathed. Sometimes we fought 
over political principles, sometimes about governmental busi- 
ness, and sometimes by reason of what Caesar denominates cer- 
taminis gaudium — the sheer joy of combat. Once Speaker 
Cannon was in the full tide of speech when I interrupted him, 
and he waved or shoved me off by saying, "Oh! Not now. I 
will attend to the Missouri Cyclone presently" — which he did, 
and I came near having fastened onto me the sobriquet borne 



38 



Joseph Gurney Cannon "^ 80th Anniversary 

now and for many years by the gentleman from Texas [Mr. 
Davis]. [Laughter and applause.] 

Mr. Davis of Texas. Amen! [Laughter.] 

Mr. Clark of Missouri. On another occasion I had the floor, 
and when Speaker Cannon interrupted me I conferred upon him 
the alliterative title of "The Dancing Dervish of Danville"; 
but out of it all we came forth good, warm personal friends, 
and will, in the language of the wedding ceremony, so remain 
" 'till death do us two part." 

Fame is the scentless sunflower with gaudy crown of gold, 
But friendship is the treasure rose, with sweets in every fold. 

In 1894 there was the worst slaughter of the innocents since 
the reign of King Herod. I was one of the victims of that awful 
landslide. I remember with gratitude that >Speaker Cannon 
was the first person who suggested to me that I might come back. 
He spoke and predicted from experience. 

On the day a few weeks ago when the bill authorizing the 
Government to take over the title deeds to the land in Kentucky 
on which stands the spleiidid memorial building covering and 
protecting the humble log cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was 
born, we witnessed a pleasing and amazing spectacle — Mr. 
Speaker Cannon, 80 to-morrow, and Gen. Sherwood, some 
months his senior, straight as arrows, lithe as men of 50, de- 
livering speeches which thrilled our hearts; and the strangest 
feature of that remarkable scene was that these two well-beloved 
octogenarians read whatever they wanted to read without 
glasses! Verily, like Moses, the master lawgiver of all the 
centuries, their eyes are not dimmed nor their natural force 
abated. [Applause.] 

For a long time people poked fun at the Scotch theory of "sec- 
ond sight"; but on the occasion to which I refer we had the best 
sort of evidence that these two veterans have received their 
"second sight"—" the ocular proof" which Othello demanded. 
In passing, it may be apropos to state that one of the finest 
couplets in our vernacular grew out of the Scotch theory of 
"second sight" conferring the gift of prophecy: 

'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, 
And coming events cast their shadows before. 



39 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

When I first read those splendid Hnes as a college student 
they appeared to me so fine that I wanted to read the con- 
text. Somehow I got it into my head that Alexander Pope was 
the author and read all his works to find them, which I did not 
do for the all-sufficient reason that he never wrote them. They 
are in Thomas Campbell's poem "Lochiel"; but my time spent 
in reading Pope was profitably spent. He polished his poems 
'till they glitter as a gem, and he excelled all poets in making 
couplets or quatrains, each conveying an idea complete within 
itself. I committed hundreds of them to memory, greatly to 
my advantage. 

While Speaker Cannon was delivering his Lincoln speech, I 
noted what a remarkable profile resemblance there is in his 
face and Lincoln's, just as there is a striking resemblance in 
the face of my good, dear friend, Maj. Stedman, of North 
Carolina, and the face of Gen. Robert E. Lee. 

Mr. Speaker Cannon owes it to himself and to his country- 
men to write a book of reminiscences. Job's vengeful declara- 
tion, " Oh ! that mine adversary had written a book," to the con- 
trary notwithstanding. Evidently the Man of Uz did not have 
in his mind's eye Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson when 
he gave voice to that far- resounding and malicious desire. 

There are two other distinguished Americans who owe it to 
themselves and the country to write books of reminiscences — 
Senator Chauncey Mitchell Depew, the incorrigible optimist, 
and " Marse " Henry Watterson, the last of that marvelous school 
of editors of whom Horace Greeley, George D. Prentice, James 
Gordon Bennett the elder, Henry J. Raymond, Shadrack Penn, 
Thurlow Weed, and Samuel Bowles were the founders. What 
books these three men could write for our instruction and 
delight! They would be eagerly read by untold and unborn 
thousands so long as this Republic endures, which we all fondly 
pray will be — 

Forever and forever, 
As long as the river flows, 
As long as the heart hath passions, 
As long as life hath woes. 

[Applause.] 



40 



Joseph Gurney Cannon "^ 80th Anniversary 

We, one and all, most cordially and affectionately congratulate 
Mr. Speaker Cannon on attaining the Psalmist's extreme allot- 
ment of four-score years and upon having that which should ac- 
company old age, "As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends" ; 
and we hope from the bottom of our hearts that he will live 
many years full of usefulness, happiness, and prosperity. [Pro- 
longed applause.] 

Mr. Mann. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Speaker may recognize my colleague, Mr. Cannon. [Applause.] 

The Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Cooper of Wisconsin). The 
Chair feels, as he was about to say when the gentleman from 
Illinois [Mr. Mann] arose, that he voices the earnest wish of 
every Member— Republican, Democrat, Progressive, Socialist, 
Catholic, Protestant, Jew, and Gentile — in expressing the hope 
that the distinguished gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Cannon] 
will now address the House. [Applause.] 



41 



Response of 

Hon. Joseph G. Cannon 

of Illinois 



43 



Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, of Illinois 

MR. SPEAKER AND Genti^emen of the: House of Repre- 
sentatives: It is pleasant for an old man to meet his 
fellows in the public service, to look in their faces, and feel 
that they accord to him the same honesty of purpose that 
they claim for themselves. 

And yet, upon this occasion, if you will bear with me for a 
few moments,]T recollect a story that John O'Neill told me 
many years ago. He was an Irishman who represented a St. 
Louis district, and he had all the brightness, wit, and humor 
that Irishmen generally have. One day, sitting in the cloak- 
room, when the conversation was running, he said, "When I 
was at home last week, having leave of absence for a few days, 
an Irish client of mine was about to die. He had no relatives 
in this country, and all his relatives in Ireland had crossed 
over, and he sent for me to write his will. I had been his 
attorney. He gave so much for the repose of his soul, so much 
to this hospiial, and so much to that hospital, and so much for 
various charities. He knew exactly what he had, and I wrote 
the will and read it over to him, and he discovered, when he 
came to make the addition, that there was $io left over that 
had not been disposed of." 

O'Neill said the dying Irishman reahzed that his time was 
short and asked if there was time to write the will over. O'Neill 
said to him, "Oh, I can fix it all right. I will just put in what 
we call a 'codicil.' What do you want to do with the $io?" 
He thought a minute and said, "I'll not be knowin' what I 
want to do with the $io exactly — but, yes; it can be invested 
in whisky, to be drank at my funeral." "Going or returning?" 
asked O'Neill. "Going, of course. I'll be wid 'em, then."/ 
[Laughter.] 

Brother Sherwood, you and I came into this House together, 
elected in 1872. I have been here more of the time than you 
have, but I think you have been doing as good service, and 
probably better than I have. You are my senior in years. 



45 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

and, looking in your eye, I appreciate your friendship. We 
were political friends when we served in the Forty-third Con- 
gress. We are political opponents now, but really I think I 
respect and love you as much as it is lawful for one man to love 
another. [Applause and laughter.] 

These doctors have made great progress in medicine and 
surgery. Why, with the bloodletting" that there was, with the 
thrust of a lancet that obtained in the West while the West 
was being settled, and the lo grains of calomel and lo grains 
of jalap — you know it would kill people if it was administered 
now — and the great doses of quinine, and so on. That was 
heroic treatment. [Laughter.] In medicine and surgery the 
world has progressed more in your time and mine than it did 
in the whole history of the race, from Eden down to your time 
and mine. They talk now about being on the eve of discov- 
ering a medicine or elixir, or something, that will make us all 
live to be at least 150 years old. I want them to hurry up. 
Brother Sherwood. [Laughter.] 

Always there have been during my service here, Mr. Speaker, 
and I believe there always will be in the House of Represent- 
atives, fierce contests touching policies, and no- truer thing 
was said by those who have preceded me than when they 
said, quoting the minority leader [Mr. Mann], that while this 
side of the aisle contested with that side of the aisle, after the 
partisanship passed, and even while it was on, we had as many 
friends on your side, and you as many friends on our side that 
would go as far outside of the partisanship or the policies to 
serve one another, as we have upon our respective sides. 
[Applause.] 

The scene here to-day is a sample of the partisanship of the 
House. I can say with the psalmist, "The lines have fallen 
unto me in pleasant places"; and as I look into the faces of 
friends on both sides of the House I am more inclined to accept 
the plain evidence of fact than the popular and picturesque 
fiction which divides this body into partisan groups on all 
questions, shuts out personal relations and the cooperation of 
Representatives, regardless of party, to work out in legislation 
the greatest good to the greatest number. 



46 



Joseph Gurney Cannon ^ 80th Anniversary 

We should not be human if we did not disagree at many 
points, and there would be no work for Congress if there were 
not many men of many minds in the country. We are sent 
here as the Representatives of those people who have different 
ideas as to Government activities, and we must here thrash 
out these differences, whether pleasant or unpleasant, for 
harmony can not always be produced out of the conflicts of 
the people, even by the best of friends. My own experience 
here inclines me to the view expressed by Charles Lamb, that 
he could not hate the man he knew, rather than to the old 
proverb that "Biting and scratcliing is the Scots' wooing." 

One of my earliest friends on this floor was Alexander H. 
Stephens, who returned to the House v/hen I came as a new 
Member. I had heard of the man who, as vice president of the 
Confederacy was the ablest adversary of Lincoln, and I had 
opinions ; but here on the floor and in the hotel where we both 
lived I came to know him as a man as different from my 
opinions, formed by reading the war news, as are my opinions 
of the archangel and the archdemon of the universe. 
. So it has been through the years; and to me partisanship 
{means the necessary contests over policies by which the Republic 
'must be governed. There are no personalities in partisan- 
ship, and men who meet face to face and discuss different 
political views are less arbitrary in their views than are those 
who read headlines and fear that the House has fallen to a low 
estate, where party advantage is the one aim and effort. 

I have seen some changes in partisan politics, f When I came 
here, believing in nationalism, I was impressed with the State 
rights doctrine of some of the men on that side, and I remember 
a speech by Randolph Tucker, of Virginia, in opposition to 
Randall's bill to loan fifteen hundred thousand dollars to the 
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. 

Mr. Tucker warned the House against stretching the welfare 
clause of the Constitution. He said it would be an advertise- 
ment, inviting any clever man who had an idea about spending 
Government money for the general welfare to come to Congress, 
and it would not be long before we were crowded off our stools 
by the lobbyists who wanted to get their hands into the 



47 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

Treasury. Mr. Tucker, then, turning to Randall, shouted a 
final warning that should that appropriation be made Chicago 
and even Yorktown would some day come for aid to an expo- 
sition. Well, they both came, and many others, and Mr. 
Tucker's son was president of the Jamestown Exposition. 
That is only an example of some of the changes that have come 
about the use of Government money to promote the general 
welfare.'! We have had quite a spell of it in the consideration 
of the Agriculture appropriation bill. 

In Our partisanship we have not been as keen for party ad- 
vantage as is often represented. There was Gen. Benjamin F. 
Butler, who was a stormy petrel of American politics, if we 
have had one, and he is remembered as the author of the civil- 
rights bill, which caused such a storm of indignation through- 
out the South. But Gen. Butler was also the chairman of the 
Judiciary Committee which reported and put through the 
House the amnesty bill, which removed the political disabilities 
from many thousands of southern men. 

And this leads me to suggest that it was not party advantage 
which inspired this side of the House when in control to pass 
amnesty bills which in a large measure gave control to that 
side; nor was it party advantage which led that side when in 
the majority to propose an electoral commission to find a judi- 
cial method for settling the great controversy over the Presi- 
dency. You lost by that machinery; but it was your own 
creation, and its creation was inspired by patriotic motives to 
save the country from another civil strife. 

' May I here cast a doubt on another popular fiction in which 
a former Member was the hero ? I refer to the story which has 
even got into some political histories, that Col. Watterson 
organized an army of 100,000 stalwart Democrats to march on 
Washington and by force place Mr. Tilden in the White House. 
I have always doubted the correctness of that story, because 
Col. Watterson was a Member of the House at that time and 
was here using his influence and his diplomacy to work out a 
peaceful solution of that controversy. He was one of the best 
losers I ever saw. When the report of the commission on the 
Oregon vote was adopted. Col. Watterson made a short speech 



48 



Joseph Gurney Cannon ^ 80th Anniversary 

in which he expressed his disappointment over the impending 
decision and described the blue-grass region in springtime, 
where the flowers were the signals of God's love and bounty, 
giving assurance that the heavens should not be robbed of 
their sunshine, the earth of its fruition, nor the future of hope. 
- That was at the end of February and the beginning of March, 
1877. The Democrats thought Tilden was elected, and we 
Republicans thought Hayes was elected. There was a real con- 
test at the polls and a real contest as to which was elected. 
You were in good faith, and we were in good faith. You car- 
ried the country and had a Democratic House, which you 
elected in 1874 — strongly Democratic. It was a Republican 
Senate. The 4th of March was approaching, and in that Demo- 
cratic House, presided over by Samuel J. Randall, with such 
Democrats as Ben Hill and Randolph Tucker — noted men, both 
North and South — there originated on that side the legislation 
which was agreed to by the Senate for the electoral commis- 
sion — five judges of the Supreme Court, five Members of the 
Senate, and five Members of the House. 

You supposed you would have a majority of one. You sup- 
posed that David Davis, one of the five judges, would be on 
your side. That would have given you a majority of one. 
But two days before that commission was appointed Gen. 
Logan, contesting for reelection to the Senate, was defeated by 
Justice Davis, and that put Justice Davis out. So Justice 
Bradley was selected, and he threw the casting vote. It was 
settled, but it did not turn out as you expected it would turn 
out. But it was patriotically acquiesced in. 

I recollect very well what Col. Watterson said when they 
commenced to filibuster on that side of the aisle with a motion 
to adjourn, and a motion to adjourn to a day certain, alternat- 
ing one motion with the other, as they could do, under the rules 
of the House as they then existed, as long as a man could stand 
and make the motion. Watterson said: 

I shall join in no movement to obstruct the progress of the presidential 
count. We have had enough of anarchy, y 

[Applause.] 



49 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

I never shall forget the scene before the electoral count was 
completed, when Speaker Randall rose in his place, when it 
was necessary that action should be had to a point of order 
being made on the motion under the rule, and declared that it 
was a filibuster and dilatory and that the Constitution pro- 
vided for the count of the electoral vote. He sustained the 
point of order, and then in the House we did have pandemonium 
for some time. [Laughter.] But the count was made. 

So I have found the partisanship of this House throughout 
these 40 years sometimes warm and vigorous, but largely mixed 
with patriotism and much common sense; no barriers in the 
center aisle to prevent men from crossing that partisan line, 
and no prohibition against meeting in the lobby or the cloak- 
room and talking it over in private. It has been to me a 
pleasant and, I hope, a profitable experience. 

There are, so far as I know, only six of my colleagues in 
the Forty-third Congress, which assembled here 43 years ago, 
still living. They are my friend and colleague, Gen. Sherwood, 
on this floor; ex-Senator Eugene Hale, of Maine; ex-Secretary 
of Agriculture James Wilson, of Iowa; Gerry W. Hazelton, of 
Wisconsin; William H. H. Stowell, of Virginia; and John R. 
Lynch, of Mississippi. All others who sat in that Congress 
have crossed over to the beyond. Many of those who were my 
associates in succeeding Congresses have also answered the last 
call, and I am here among those of the second generation, fol- 
lowing in the footsteps of their fathers and here giving the 
best service of which they are capable to the welfare of their 
country. 

If I sometimes see the faces and hear the voices of others not 
now here to answer the roll call, I may not be charged with 
dreaming, for among these 3,000 men with whom I have been 
associated in legislative efforts and over partisan contests there 
were hosts of personal friends of whom I never thought as 
Republicans or Democrats, except as we discussed different 
policies. These men had their hour on this stage, did their 
work in their time, as you are doing it now, following in the 
line of precedent; here amending where changes in conditions 
make it necessary, but not attempting to uproot and reconstruct 



50 



Joseph Gurney Cannon 'S 80th Anniversary 

the whole fabric of the people's law. And when I see ghosts in 
this Chamber I am not frightened, for they typify the spirit of 
a representative democracy as truly as do the words and works 
of those who laid the foundation of this Government in the 
beginning. 

Who could fear the ghosts of Blaine and Randall? Of old 
Alexander H. Stephens and Henry ly. Dawes, of Ben Butler and 
George F. Hoar, of Sunset Cox and Tom Piatt, of Fernando 
Wood and William A. Wheeler, of Charles O'Neill and Pig-iron 
Kelley, of Holman and Tyner, of Beck and Blount, of Bland and 
Mills, of Garfield and Morrison, of Jerry Rusk and Philetus 
Sawyer, of Stephen B. Elkins and George Q. Cannon, of Ben 
Hill and Gen. Banks, of Proctor Knott and David B. Culber- 
son, of John H. Reagan and Randolph Tucker, of Tom Reed 
and John G. Carlisle, of McKinley and Frank Hurd, of Nelson 
Dingley and William I,. Wilson, of Crisp and Henderson, and 
the hosts of others whose names are familiar to you or to any 
who know the history of our country? 

There are now more great men and more great women in the 
United States than there ever have been in the past history of 
the Republic. Some one asks, "Where are they?" And I an- 
swer. They are everywhere, following their vocations; but when 
necessary, whether it be in Congress or in civil life, or upon 
the bench, in the State legislature; whether it be in diversify- 
ing the industry of the country and carrying on the business of 
the country, whether it be following the plow or working in the 
machine shop, there will be found more people capable for self- 
government and ready to defend the flag than there ever have 
been since the discovery of America. [Applause.] 

Is there humor in the House of Representatives? Yes. The 
first notoriety I ever obtained in this House and in the country 
was by the aid of Sunset Cox, who came into Congress from Ohio, 
and then from New York. A great man was Cox. He had a 
versatile mind. He was full of humor. One day he was 
"running amuck," attacking the Republican side, as only he 
could. We were cheering him at times on both sides, and some- 
times there was gnashing of teeth on this side. [Laughter.] 
Finally he made a remark about a constituent of mine who had 



SI 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

just been nominated for Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 
Gen. Green B. Raum, a good, strong man, a former Member of 
Congress. Just at that time Alice Gates was here in opera 
bouffe. She was inimitable. One of the characters in her opera, 
as I recollect it, was "General Boom." Sunset Cox in his re- 
marks said: "Why, here at last they have turned out a good, 
honest Commissioner of Internal Revenue and appointed some- 
body — I think he is from Illinois — General Boom." Well, that 
aroused me, and I jumped up and said, "Will the gentleman 
yield ? " "Oh, no," said Cox, " I can not yield. The gentleman 
shakes his finger, and he scares me." Then a smile came over 
his face and he said, "Yes; I will yield." "For what time?" 
inquired Mr. Speaker Blaine. "As long as the gentleman will 
keep his left hand in his pocket," answered Cox. [Laughter.] 
I accepted the yielding and stood in that aisle, and I began 
vigorously to defend Gen. Raum; but I had not talked 60 seconds 
until I forgot all about the left hand, and out it came. "Time's 
up," said Cox. And it was up. [Laughter.] 

That was my first notoriety. In the campaign of 1874 that 
finger was cartooned all over the country. The joke was good, 
and that cartoon abounded on handbills on every tree in my dis- 
trict, with the left hand out, and sometimes one finger and some- 
times all the fingers, and they had the fingers sprouting out of 
the forehead, you know.^ [Laughter.] 

I have had two terms, four years, of absence that I did not 
ask for; otherwise my service in Congress would measure 44 
years. [Laughter.] During that time, with the exception of 
that great struggle — the Civil War — there has been more of 
history written, not only upon this continent but I believe more 
than was ever written anywhere else on earth in the same 
length of time. Think of it! It was the winding up of that 
great struggle, when valiant, courageous men of the same race 
and the same blood fought for four long years. You of the 
South thought you were right. We knew you were wrong, or 
thought we did, but it took four years to determine. I see 
before me a few men who were in that struggle in the Southern 
Army, and I see the sons of many who were in that great 
struggle. It was fierce. The world up to that time had never 



52 



Joseph Gurney Cannon -^ 80th Anniversary 

seen such a contest. When it began the navies of the world 
were wooden walls. Then came the Merrimac and the Monitor, 
and when that war closed all the navies of the world were 
obsolete. 

Then came reconstruction, but I will not go into it. None of 
us remember the many things that happened with pleasure; 
but as I think about it sometimes I realize it necessarily could 
not have been otherwise than it was. But how marvelously it 
has been forgotten, because we sit here upon each side of this 
aisle friends, Amercians, all marching under the Stars and 
Stripes, each with an equal love for the great Republic. [Ap- 
plause.] 

There was no such contest with any such result in the lifetime 
of a generation and a half in the history of the world. Why, 
bless my soul, the Battle of the Boyne was fought 200 years ago, 
if I remember aright, and on each anniversary it is fought over 
again now. [I,aughter.] 

( A man said to me the other day, "What would you give, Mr. 
Cannon, for an insurance policy that you would live to be 100 
years old?" I said, "A real policy that would make me live — 
and would I have to die then ? " "Yes," he said ; "just a policy 
of that kind." I said, "Give? I would rather pay something 
not to have it." "Why?" he said. "Well, there is probably 
one man in half a million in the United States now living that 
will live to be 100 years old, and I am going to take my chances." 
[Laughter and applause.] He said, "That is a slim chance." I 
said, "Yes; but I would not have the policy anyway, because 
every day that would pass it would occur to me that it was one 
day less." The Great Father has arranged it properly; no man 
can foresee when he will die. 

Now, I do not desire to keep you longer. I thank you, Mr. 
Speaker and gentlemen, with all the sincerity in my power for 
this compliment. I never had such a compliment before. It 
would be impossible to have another such, and I appreciate it, 
[Prolonged applause.] 



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